1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a parking control apparatus, and more specifically to an improved parking card to operate a barrier for pay parking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known parking cards are issued to the user on passing the control stations at the entrance of parking garages or parking lots. The data necessary for calculating the parking fee is stored on the parking card. For the use of automatic cashiers and computer control of the parking operation, it was necessary to store the various items of parking information or codes in machine-readable form. On the one hand, so-called magnetic card tickets, made of paper, which have a magnetic strip for deposit of individual parking data, are used, and, on the other hand, plastic tickets with a built-in programmable chip are used. Also known are parking cards of plastic with individualizing code, e.g., a bar code, input and output of which are controlled by the parking system's computer.
Whereas magnetic card tickets made of paper can only be used once, plastic parking cards with a programmable chip or identifying code can be used for successive parking operation either as a single parking card by different users or as a debit card by one user or as an access card for long-term parkers. This repeated input and output of plastic parking cards requires entrance and exit control stations which can store the cards to be issued or retained, convey them to a reading and control station, and transport them into a slot which is accessible to the user of the car park. For a smooth parking operation the parking card must therefore be moved in several directions in the entrance and exit control stations. For this purpose conveyor belts or rollers are provided. As the parking cards are always rectangular, however, there is a danger of their becoming unaligned with resultant susceptibility to breakdown and interruptions to the issue of parking cards and retaining for new issue.
The aim of the invention is therefore to create a parking card which is simple in design and handling.